Bericht: Reckless Love

All good things come in threes. Or in fours? Anyway, on this Friday evening I will see the gents of Reckless Love live on stage for the fourth time already after they came to my attention just five weeks ago. Yes, their shows are addictive! And why exactly their shows are addictive, we will shine a light on it one more time tonight in Helsinki's most famous rockclub "Tavastia"...

Finns are very relaxed people and so it can happen that most of the concert visitors arrive at the location just five minutes before showtime, sometimes even later. The quartet - their selves from Finland, more precisely from Kuopio - seems to know about this characteristics and so the show starts half an hour later as announced.
Some Crashdïet fan uses the time to communicate her surplus of estrogen vociferously. Crashdïet fan? Indeed, 'cause the Reckless Love singer Olli Herman is none other than H. Olliver Twisted, the second singer of Crashdïet who replaced the first one Dave Lepard after his tragic suicide at the microphone. But in the end it seemed that his heart beats a little more for the tongue-in-cheek Glam Rock than for Sleaze Rock and so he passed Crashdïet's mic to Simon Cruz to give his full attention to Reckless Love.

The half-hour time displacement totally paid off: "Tavastia" was fully packed!
Like their self-titled debut album, the concert was opened by "Feel My Heat" for which Olli appeared in a denim jacket and with black sunglasses. Until the end, he stood true to his black spandex trousers in snakeskin leather style which rather accentuates his masculinity than hiding it. On the other hand, his denim jacket has already flown into a corner during the performance for "Wild Touch" so Olli continued the show in a white muscle shirt which he will rip off in the final of the performance for the current single "Romance", just like he is doing it in the related music video. Of course, during that there is loud screaming among the female concert visitors. But even I who gradually started to think that Reckless Love is more a "girl thing" was disabused tonight 'cause there were also some tough metal guys in the audience who even worer a t-shirt of the band. But, no: They didn't scream, they just drank their beer very easy-going and headbanged...
And because Olli loves it to present the content of his wardrobe or also his collection of sunglasses with increasing regularity at Reckless Love shows, he was showing us his Poison shirt during the performance for "Sex".
But the man didn't stand just there and let the audience admire him... How boring would that be?!? Exactly! And so he interacted almost non-stop with the fans, animated them repeatedly to sing and clap along what they were doing the whole time anyway. He also jumped from the one half of the stage to the other and swang his hips again and again in a way which even put Shakira in the shade. Especially funny were his "aerobic interludes" he demonstrated amongst others during the performance for "Born To Rock": Lift the left leg up in a 180 degree angle, lift the right leg up in a 180 degree angle and over again.

As well the other three bandmembers were smiling non-stop and spreading good mood, as usual. Drummer Hessu Maxx who was more visible than usual that day- thanks to the higher drum stage - enthraled with drum solos. Pepe got his well-deserved attention through his guitar arts and especially bass player Jalle Verne had to beware of the grope attacks by the girls in the first row.

Performed non-album tracks weare "Get Electric" and a cover version which confused me at first: In the song there was occasionally the line "It's A Miracle" and a specific name was mentioned in this context but the song sounded different than the one I had in my head. The answer to the riddle: It's not the same-titled Crashdïet hit, played in honour of Dave Lepard; it's "Hysteria", a cover of Def Leppard with the same line. Aha!


Whether "topless", with a sleeveless check shirt or a Mötley Crüe shirt: Olli's fashion show delighted your eyes the same way like the hits "Back To Paradise" or the grandiose bonus "Badass" delighted your ears. Also Jalle stood there "topless" at some point and Hessu, also with naked upper body, came to the edge of the stage to give his drum sticks away.
Handcuffs and a black lace bra are flying to the stage as well... In short: At a Reckless Love show so many things are happening that you can't remember every detail afterwards. So if you spend money for a concert of this Hair Metal tribute band, it's more than well-invested.


After the show the guys walked around the lobby to talk with their fans, sign autographs and pose for pictures. There wais not the slightest trace of arrogance despite big successes in Finland and especially in the UK also. In the UK, they will tour soon again for the second time this year with their label mates of Jettblack. And, of course, Trash&Riot will be a part to report about it for you...

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